“It’s my vacation, bitch!”
By Matt Fowler
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
Overall, not a bad episode of Hotel tonight. A little formless, perhaps, but decent. It didn’t pay off the big guns-a-blazing finish from back in “She Gets Revenge,” though that moment did, thankfully, rid us of Donovan. And I’m sure Iris rolling around in his ashes was meant to be cathartic, but his douchebag ass and her pushover ass made damned sure I never invested in that relationship one bit.
However, if you’ve been reading my reviews this season then you know I’m all about Evan Peter’s Mr. March character. He’s sinister and delightful. And he had a tremendous scene at the end of this one, discovering that Hazel had been the one to betray him while trying to delicately break the news to the Countess that she was now a ghost. But although there were some nice moments involved, it felt tacked on. As if it should have been part of the next episode and not how this particular chapter should have ended. But this is what tends to happen now that AHS episodes run so long. They tend to become a meandering mess, unintentionally.
But let’s get to the meat of the matter here. Freakin’ Queenie showed up! From AHS: Coven!
Beginning last year, the AHS seasons began to get tied together. Freak Show connected to Asylum. And then this season’s had a few Murder House moments. But Queenie’s arrival, and <em>actual death</em> – in the midst of a very amusing vampire/witch/ghost showdown – was perhaps the pinnacle of American Horror Story absurdity. And I mean that in the best possible way. The supernatural elements, and rules, of three different seasons collided in one room as Ramona tried to feed on last year’s human voodoo doll.
So that was a very cool, unexpected moment to behold. In the middle of a giant spiderweb of desire and desperation. Sally wanted John. March wanted Countess. Liz and Iris wanted Countess – dead. And it all ended with Countess seducing Ramona (yes, after all that) and then getting gunned down by John. Did Countess secretly kill Ramona? Doubtful. She was leaving in earnest right there at the end so it looks like she just gave up the Cortez and that everything she said was on the up-and-up. And not a ploy to lower Ramona’s guard.
Sally got a mini, VERY ICKY flashback involving a Kurt and Courtney-style grunge era drug couple who Sally actually sewed into her own body during a bad drug high. She wound up stuck with their overdosed corpses for five days. It’s was pretty gnarly. Though, even though we’ve been waiting all season for an answer regarding Shaky Demon Dildo Man, it didn’t come. Still no clarification. Though March did say something at the end about an “Addiction Demon.” Even though allowing demons onto the show would seem to open up a whole new avenue for this series. A clue to next year’s romp perhaps?
“Battle Royale” was full of twists and turns – and an awesome (final) appearance by Coven’s Queenie! – but none of it gave us the slightest clue as to what the Hotel finale will be about. Nothing about this season has been directional at all, from a storyline sense. If you asked me how I thought things would wrap up halfway through the season, I would have shrugged. Now that the finale is next week…I still give a shrug. I have no idea. Hotel just sort of spins the wheel when it comes to outcomes and fate. Anything can happen to anyone for whatever reason. When two characters hate each other, there’s no indication as to who’ll win. Who the focus should really be on. And so we wait. To see how it all comes together (or falls apart).
